One way of providing security for merchandise in a retail facility is the use of traditional electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems. Such systems include a transponder, that normally takes the form of an electromagnetically responsive element enclosed in the security tag and is affixed to each article of merchandise to protect the article from theft and for detection at an EAS detection gate. Security tags, also referred to as “EAS security tags”, may be a hard tag or a soft tag. Hard tags include the transponder within an enclosure or housing that can be detached from the article it is protecting and typically re-used. The enclosure is typically a hard plastic case. Soft tags, on the other hand, may be a label (e.g., a sticker, care-label, content label, paper hang-tag, etc.) and are typically planar in form. The soft tag may be a plastic label, paper tag, sleeve of fabric, etc.
This disclosure is directed to deactivatable soft tags, hence herein subsequently described as “security tags”. The term “security tag” as used in this disclosure covers all types of soft deactivatable security tags, including EAS security tags, including RFID security tags. The responsive element, or transponder, in the security tag may be a strip of ferromagnetic material, a section of acoustomagnetostrictive metallic glass, a parallel resonant circuit made with a capacitor and an inductor, a strip antenna connected to a diode, or an antenna coupled with a radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated circuit, i.e., an RFID security tag. These technologies, termed EM, AM, RF, RFID and microwave, respectively, normally operate at a characteristic frequency determined by a combination of regulatory and historical reasons. The detection device, for detecting the security tag, consists of a detection antenna connected to both a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is arranged to provide a stimulating signal to the transponder of the security tag. The receiver is arranged to determine whether the transponder is near the detector. For RFID security tag detection, RFID readers are used. Typically, detection devices are used to sound an alarm if a transponder is detected by the device located at a point of egress.
When merchandise is purchased, the security tags may either be removed or deactivated by the application of special electromagnetic fields. Typically in the U.S., such EAS anti-theft security systems for RF use 8.2 MHz and associated 8.2 MHz security tags whereas RFID anti-theft security systems use 13.56 MHz, 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz+ along with the associated RFID security tags. EAS anti-theft security systems for AM use 58 KHz and associated 58 KHz security tags.
Security tags are often deactivated at the point-of-purchase by an antenna embedded into a counter top or about a scan window in the counter top so that the security tags will not later be detected by the detecting device at the store exit, at the point of egress. The antennas lay horizontal in the counter top or about the scan window, and thus in parallel with the counter top. An antenna may also be positioned in a wall orthogonal to the point-of-purchase counter top, or vertical scan window. The antennas are often shaped in a rectangular pattern and detect and/or deactivate the security tag as the tag is passed over the plane in which the antenna resides.
Depending on the placement of the security tag about the product for purchase, the security tag may not be detected or deactivated when the product is passed over the plane, wherein the antenna resides. To attain detection or deactivation, the store clerk often has to attempt to locate the security tag and then rotate the merchandise so that the largest surface area of the tag faces the plane in which the antenna resides. Other times the store clerk will repeatedly rotate the merchandise and swipe the product over the plane, in which the antenna resides, in the hopes to detect or deactivate the security tag. This often occurs when the security tag is hidden inside merchandise, such as inside a box containing the merchandise. The security tag is hidden so that potential thieves do not remove the tag before exiting the store so as not to set off alarms. Hidden tags increase the difficulty of aligning the security tag so as to face the largest surface area of the tag to the plane, in which the antenna resides, to detect or deactivate the tag.
As the store clerk fails to deactivate the tag and repeatedly attempts to deactivate, the customer becomes agitated and the customer lines grow at the point-of-sale station. If the store clerk fails to deactivate the security tag, or gives up, then alarms occur when the customer passes through the security tag detection gates at the store exit. Then, typically another store employee has to recheck the merchandise bought by the customer, often prolonging a customer's stay at the store post purchase and often leading to customer anger or embarrassment. If the security tags are consistently not deactivated, store personnel end up often simply waiving store patrons through the detection gates, thus ignoring the alarms at the detection gates.
What is needed is a system and method to detect and/or deactivate a security tag at any orientation, without requiring the rotation of merchandise until the largest surface area of the security tag is found and aligned to face the plane in which a detection/deactivation antenna resides, to detect and/or deactivate the tag. Passing a tag through a detection/deactivation portal will eliminate the necessity of having to rotate merchandise and/or locate the security tag on the merchandise so as to properly detect and/or deactivate the security tag. Deactivation of the security tag at the point-of-sale station, through a portal, will eliminate wait time for the customer at the register and any additional wait and/or embarrassment caused when the customer's merchandise has to be re-checked after sale upon setting off security alarms at the detection gates for failure to deactivate at the point-of-sale station.